Learn phrases to use at a restaurant
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Здравейте (zdraveyte). Hello and welcome to BulgarianPod101.com. This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Bulgaria. You will be surprised at how far a little Bulgarian will go. Now before we jump in, remember to stop by BulgarianPod101.com. And there, you’ll find the accompanying PDF, additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Lesson 13 - Restaurant 2—Placing an Order |
| In this lesson, we'll cover getting by at the table. Service quality in Bulgaria has come a long way since the fall of communism at the end of the eighties. Most likely, if you are in the capital or another big city, the staff will approach and accommodate you as soon as you enter the restaurant. However, in some non-urban areas you might have to get the hold of the staff first. You can accomplish this by saying: Може ли да поръчаме? (Moje li da porychame?) is interpreted as "Can we order?" |
| Може ли да поръчаме? (Moje li da porychame?) |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: Може ли да поръчаме? (Moje li da porychame?) |
| Now let's hear it once again: Може ли да поръчаме? (Moje li da porychame?) |
| The first word, може (Moje), means "possible" or "can." |
| Let's break down this word and hear it one more time: може (Moje) |
| може (Moje) |
| This is followed by the particle ли (li), which doesn't have an independent meaning and is used to make questions from positive statements. It's an easy, frequently used, one-syllable word. |
| ли (li) |
| ли (li) |
| Да (da) functions as the English "to" before a verb in this context. |
| The verb in question before da is поръчаме (porychame), which means "order." |
| поръчаме (porychame) |
| поръчаме (porychame) |
| And the whole phrase: Може ли да поръчаме? (Moje li da porychame?) This means "Can we order?" |
| Alternatively, if the person whose attention you're trying to attract is further away from you and probably will not hear you, you can simply raise your hand, make eye contact and say: Moje li (може ли). This doesn't have a literal translation but can be interpreted as "could you, please." |
| Moje li (може ли) |
| Moje li (може ли) |
| Moje li (може ли) |
| Once the waiter or waitress comes to your table, you can simply point and say "this, please." |
| In Bulgarian, "this, please," is това, моля (tova, molya). |
| това, моля (tova, molya). |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: това, моля (tova, molya). |
| Now let's hear it once again: това, моля (tova, molya). |
| The first word, това (tova), means "this." An easy two-syllable word. |
| това (tova) |
| това (tova) |
| This is followed by моля (molya), which in Bulgurian is "please." |
| моля (molya) |
| моля (molya) |
| Now if you're feeling ambitious, you could go for "What do you recommend?" |
| In Bulgarian, "What do you recommend?" is Какво препоръчвате? (Kakvo preporachvate?) |
| Какво препоръчвате? (Kakvo preporachvate?) |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: Какво препоръчвате? (Kakvo preporachvate?) |
| Now let's hear it once again: Какво препоръчвате? (Kakvo preporachvate?) |
| The first word, какво (kakvo), means "what." |
| Quick and easy, какво (kakvo). |
| This is followed by препоръчвате (preporachvate), which is the formal second person plural form of the verb "to recommend." |
| препоръчвате (preporachvate) |
| препоръчвате (preporachvate) |
| препоръчвате (preporachvate) |
| Now let's hear the whole phrase once again: Какво препоръчвате? (Kakvo preporachvate?) |
| Which means "What do you recommend?" |
| Now, two more phrases that will come in handy, have to do with water and ice! Tap water in Bulgaria is chlorinated and generally safe to drink but sometimes it causes stomach upsets. Hence, bottled water is preferable. There is excellent mineral water bottled at a number of springs in various parts of the country. |
| The phrase "water, please" is вода, моля (voda, molya). |
| вода, моля (voda, molya). |
| By syllable: вода, моля (voda, molya). |
| вода, моля (voda, molya). |
| The first word, вода (voda), means "water." |
| Now by syllables: вода (voda) |
| вода (voda) |
| This is followed by моля (molya), which means "please" and which we covered a moment ago. |
| Now on to the ice issue! Whether it is a health concern or economic decision, in Bulgarian, "no ice please" is без лед, моля (bes let, molya). |
| без лед, моля (bes let, molya) |
| By syllable: без лед, моля (bes let, molya) |
| без лед, моля (bes let, molya) |
| The first word, без (bes), means "without." |
| Here it is again: без (bes) |
| This is followed by лед (let), which in Bulgarian is "ice." |
| It’s quick and easy, лед (let) |
Outro |
| Okay, to wrap up today's lesson, we’d like for you to practice what you just learned. I’ll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase, and you’re responsible for saying it out loud. You’ll have few seconds before I give you the answer. So, Успех! (Uspeh!) that means "Good luck!" in Bulgarian. Ok, here we go! |
| "Can we order?" - Moje li da porychame? |
| Moje li da porychame? |
| Moje li da porychame? |
| "Could you please...?" - Moje li... |
| Moje li... |
| Moje li... |
| "This, please." - Tova, molya. |
| Tova, molya. |
| Tova, molya. |
| "What do you recommend?" - Kakvo preporychvate? |
| Kakvo preporychvate? |
| Kakvo preporychvate? |
| "Water, please." - Voda, molya. |
| Voda, molya. |
| Voda, molya. |
| "No ice, please." - Bez led, molya. |
| Bez led, molya. |
| Bez led, molya. |
| All right. That’s going to do it for today. Remember to stop by BulgarianPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. If you stop by, make sure to leave a comment. Довиждане (dovizhdane)! |
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